Richard Tregaskis Autographs Guadalcanal Diary, February 1944. "Rich at grumman aircraft." From the Richard Tregaskis Collection (COLL/566) at the Marine Corps History Division. OFFICIAL USMC PHOTOGRAPH.
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Richard Tregaskis was born on 28 November 1916 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. After graduating from Harvard University in 1938, Tregaskis went to work for the Boston Record American.
During World War II, Tregaskis was a war correspondent for the International News Service (INS). Between 1942 and 1943, he covered the Coral Sea Battle, Doolittle-Tokyo task force, Battle of Midway, and Battle for Guadalcanal. Tregaskis is most well known for his writings about his time with the United States Marine Corps on Guadalcanal in 1942. The book "Guadalcanal Diary", about his experiences, was and is still a critical and popular success. To date "Guadalcanal Diary" is suggested reading for all US Marines.
Assigned to the Mediterranean Theater, Tregaskis reported on the invasions of Sicily, Italy, and on the fall of Naples. It was during this time that Tregaskis was awarded the purple heart for wounds received in Italy in 1943. After he recovered from his injuries in 1944, Tregaskis was assigned to the western front. In March of 1945, Tregaskis returned to the Pacific, writing a weekly series of articles titled “Road to Tokyo” for the Saturday Evening Post.
After World War II, Tregaskis covered Cold War-era conflicts including the Chinese Civil War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. During the Vietnam War, Tregaskis accompanied U.S. Marines in command of local ARVN troops. He wrote about his experiences in the book “Vietnam Diary”.
Richard Tregaskis died from a heart attack on 15 August 1975 in Hawaii.
During his career as a War Correspondent, Richard Tregaskis covered nine wars. He wrote twelve books including "Guadalcanal Diary" (1943), "Invasion Diary" (1944), "Stronger Than Fear" (1945), "Seven Leagues to Paradise" (1951), "Last Plane to Shanghai" (1961), "John F. Kennedy: War Hero "(1962), and "Vietnam Diary" (1963). He received the George R. Holmes award (1942), the International News Service Medal of Honor for Heroic Devotion to Duty (1942-1943), and the Purple Heart (1944).
The slides in this album depict Richard Tregaskis’s time as a War Correspondent during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Many of the Vietnam War era images were used for the book “ Vietnam Diary”.
When possible, the captions were imposed by Richard Tregaskis from the images themselves, or taken from the book "Vietnam Diary" and the Richard Tregaskis Papers, Box 78, Folder 1, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. The images are arranged chronologically by date.
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